By Marlyn Montilla
May 26, 2024, 3:28 PM EDT
New York Police Department (NYPD) officers opened fire on an “emotionally disturbed” man who attacked them with two knives early Sunday morning, authorities reported.
Officers were responding to a domestic violence call in Bushwick when the individual knocked on the patrol car window to get their attention, the NYPD explained in a press conference.
After getting out of the car, officers saw the 26-year-old man wielding two knives and, when they were unsuccessful with the order to lower their weapons, they deployed their Tasers, the New York Post reported.
The distraught young man dropped one of the knives as he fell to the floor, but held the other knife as he got up and attacked two police officers, said New York Police Department Chief of Patrol John Chell.
The two officers fired their normal weapons at the man who was wielding a knife and fatally wounded him.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he died from his injuries.
“We do everything we can with people with emotional disorders to reduce tension,” Chell said Sunday.
In addition, he described the event as a “very hard night for these two agents and for the “EDP” family, using police jargon to refer to an “emotionally disturbed person.”
Authorities have not yet released the name of the man in question and have not identified the two officers. Chell did not say whether the subject was involved in the previous domestic violence call.
The incident comes two weeks after police officers fatally shot an armed man during a confrontation on another Brooklyn street.
Identified as Christian Emile, 33, pointed his gun at a rival on May 12 and two officers and a sergeant from the 67th Precinct used their Taser on him and subsequently shot him when he refused to let go of the gun, the NYPD said and the Daily News reported. .
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